Fine-tuning for success
With competition season fast approaching, European young rider eventing champion Will Furlong shares his advice for the latter stages of a fitness programme, in the second of our two-part series
ONCE your horse is working confidently in walk, trot and canter, it’s time to take your fitness programme to the next level, introducing gridwork, fast work and jumping.
“Every horse is different; don’t be afraid to vary or adapt your programme if needs be,” says Will Furlong, the 2015 European young rider eventing champion. “Don’t worry about sticking to a set number of days work per week either — four days of quality work, plus some hacking, is better than six days of poor work.” Will advises planning at least a week between your horse reaching fitness and your first competition.
“If your horse is at a stage you are happy with after 12 weeks, you can take a week to back off the work a little, or use it to catch up, or fine-tune,” he says.
“Getting a horse fit is all about the rider feeling what they are feeling — it’s all about horsemanship.”
WEEK 7
By this point your horse should be working happily in canter, with varied polework incorporated into your sessions. Use this week to progress to raised poles, cavaletti and crosspoles, and work on improving the quality of the canter. Canter through two single poles and aim to vary the number of strides between them.
“you don’t need to be jumping just yet; you’re better off developing a solid base, and rideability,” says Will.
WEEK 8
Progress to gridwork and gymnastic jumping in your schooling sessions this week, keeping the fences low.
“When you start jumping there’s no need to go big or start building courses — you’re working on rhythm and agility, and aiming to get your horse and yourself seeing a stride again,” says Will. “Build a grid on the centre line and pop through it from both directions, working out which your horse prefers and which he struggles with. Now is the time to be ironing out things like straightness issues.”
WEEK 9
“Around this stage you can begin to pick up the pace and introduce faster work out in the open, on non-consecutive days,” says Will, who is based in East sussex. “There’s no need to go flat out; build up the pace and distance gradually each session.
“Try to incorporate hills — it’s very flat around us but we box up and go to the south Downs about half an hour away. you have to work with what you have.
“A lot of people use heart rate monitors, which can be useful, but feel and recovery time is the best judge of your horse’s fitness,” adds Will.
WEEK 10
DEPENDING on your horse’s progress so far, consider heading out to a training show, re-introducing them to the competition environment. Alternatively, pop a small course of fences at home.
“Confidence is key at this stage — it’s easy to overface yourself and your horse by jumping too big too soon,” warns Will.
“Add in some more complicated flatwork movements to your schooling at home too, such as leg-yielding and some counter-canter. Make sure you plan in sessions with a trainer too — whatever your level, another pair of eyes can help keep you on track.”
WEEK 11
TAKE your fast work up a notch, working towards cross-country speed.
“Don’t forget your gridwork at home too, as it helps further develop rhythm, straightness and agility” adds Will. “I like using multiple bounces, with placing poles in between, building up to an oxer at the end.
“I recommend getting out to a clinic or demo too — try to keep learning and picking up new ideas.”
WEEK 12
“IT’s great to get out cross-country schooling but that is always weather dependant,” says Will. “Arena eventing is great for working on the more technical types of fences, such as skinnies and corners, but you can build these at home in your own arena too.
“Make use of streams or ditches out hacking, always focusing on accuracy over size. By the end of the week you can start practising jumping out of a stronger, more forward canter, still using transitions within the pace to test if you can bring the horse back before pushing on again.”